


A Green Leaf in the Forest of the Dead

by Suaine



Category: Juuni Kokki | Twelve Kingdoms, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Future Fic, Gen, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji nighthunting in all the universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21843961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suaine/pseuds/Suaine
Summary: Risai and Taiki arrive in Tai and meet some new friends.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	A Green Leaf in the Forest of the Dead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Varanu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varanu/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this little story

They set down at the southernmost edge of Sui Province on a barren, rocky beach that faded into a dry, leafless forest. The trees looked white as bones, dead or close enough not to make a difference. There was a howling in the distance that could only be youma on a hunt. Risai shuddered and patted Hien’s side.

“Good girl,” she said, her voice hoarse from the perpetual winter air. “You did so well.” Hien’s ears twitched with appreciation, but otherwise she remained silent. The journey had taken all their strength and Risai looked over at her charge, the kirin of Tai.

He looked pale, paler than even on the first day of his slow recovery, and Risai’s heart ached for all the loss he had endured. “Taiho, are you well?”

Taiki nodded slowly, as if his movements were impeded by water. He slipped off Tiger’s back and began to unload their packs and other assorted items. Enki had provided well for them and the provisions would carry them far even if they never encountered another soul on their way to Bun. Risai imagined they would not be so lucky. She helped take off the heavier items and spoke softly to Tiger.

“You did very well to bring us here safely, we thank you.” She rubbed his fur and smiled at the twitch under her fingers. Cats or dogs or humans, they were all the same in the end - a gentle touch worked wonders for the constitution.

Once they finished, Tiger bowed deeply before the kirin and gave Risai a bump with his nose. She gave him a scratch behind the ears for his trouble and waved as he bounced away and took off into the frigid sky. Without passengers, he’d make the journey back in less than half the time. Risai looked after him long passed the point where she could see so much as a speck in the sky, but her attention turned to Taiki when he started shivering.

It was truly, desperately cold during Tai’s winters, even at the southern coast.

“I’m going to find some wood to start a fire, will you be okay?”

Taiki nodded, putting on a brave face, but for all that he had grown up so much beyond the boy she had known, he looked small and lost here on the harsh coast of their home. Not that it had been much of a home to him so far. But they were here to change that, weren’t they? To make Tai a home again, for everyone who needed it.

+

Risai had all the twigs she could carry with just one arm and headed back to their makeshift camp when the howling that had been a constant background noise became noticeably louder. The creatures had caught their scent. Risai cursed and broke into a run.

At the beach, Hien had taken a protective stance to provide what little protection she could, but she was not a fighter and Risai ran harder. Her sword was somewhere in those packs and she should have made sure to dig it out but what use would it have been while she scavenged for wood? With just one arm she was all the way useless to both Taiki and Tai. Risai screamed with rage and anguish and pushed through the limits her body would set on her.

She could feel the youma at her back. She did not dare to look.

She skidded to a halt where Taiki and Hien waited with horror in their eyes, and it occurred to Risai that this might be for two very different reasons. Taiki looked pale and scared. He also looked like death, like a divine beast come to bring the gods’ will.

“Your shirei?” Risai asked, panting hard on each syllable.

“They are stirring, I can feel it. When they come, they will not make a difference between those creatures and you. There will be blood everywhere.”

Risai started frantically rummaging in their provisions. Where had she packed it and would it be any use? “Keep them contained if you can, I will do my best,” she said as the fingers of her hand closed around the hilt.

Risai would not die so easy.

+

The youma were fierce beasts, wolf-like and sharp-clawed. Blood and saliva dripped from their teeth and Risai fought harder than she had in her life. When she’d run from Sui not so long ago, she had only had hope to carry her through, a desperate and cold hope that meant her death was very little price to pay for success. But now, now she stood as the only bulwark between calamity and the resurrection of her nation. She could not die here. She could not let Taiki down.

And yet, her strength could not stand against so many. If she’d had her sword arm, perhaps things would be different, but without it, she could not win.

She would not give up. She screamed at the creatures to come at her, come for her, yes. Come. Follow. If she could lead them away, at least, perhaps Taiki would be safe. She yelled to Hien to bring Taiki to safety, no matter the cost, and vaulted on top of the largest beast, legs gripping tightly around its neck. She rammed her sword into the muscle there and held on as the beast yelped and began to buck.

That’s when the music reached her ears, the soft notes of a song that was mournful and hopeful all at once. It calmed something inside her almost instantly, her and the beast beneath her. The other youma ceased their attacks and simply stood where they were, as if waiting for commands.

Two men stepped from the edge of the dead forest. One was dressed all in white, one in black. They were of a height and did not look like simple farmers. The one in white drew a sword that was clearly of superior quality, an artifact worthy of an emperor. It gleamed like ice, suffused in a magical glow. The one in black raised a black flute to his lips and the song began anew. The beast under her thighs slowly laid down on the ground, lulled into what she assumed must be an unnatural sleep.

Risai allowed herself to breathe. Whatever these men were going to do to her, it could not be worse than what almost happened. Her vision blurred at the edges. Perhaps, perhaps, it was okay to let go now, just for a little while.

And then all she saw was the dark.

+

She woke to a face hovering inches above her, saying: “I think she’s finally waking up.” There was a finger poking at her cheek. She tried swatting it away, but her arm… well.

There were three things popping into her mind at once and the order was clear: “Where’s Taiki? Is he alright? Who are you?”

“Whoa,” said the man, the one in black. He smiled brightly like he never had had a care in the world. There was something sinister about him though, something that worried Risai. “Slow down, alright? We’re not going to hurt you. Hey, we even brought you to our little house! Isn’t that nice of us?”

Alarm bells began to ring in Risai’s head. This man was clearly mad. “Where is the taiho? If you have done something to him, I will punish you.”

He has the audacity to laugh, but then his face softens. “Your friend is fine. See?” He vaguely pointed at something behind him. Risai struggled to sit up and the man awkwardly tried to help, resulting in nearly knocking their heads together. And she could indeed see that Taiki was okay, curled up on a bed roll, looking perfectly unharmed under a soft blanket.

“He wanted us to give the bed to you,” the man said, scratching his nose. He suddenly looked very young. “He reminds me of a friend of ours.”

The other man appeared behind the first and placed a hand on his shoulder. The man in black turned toward him with such a blinding smile on his face that Risai almost felt the urge to look away, for fear of intruding on something intimate. The exchanged quick words that Risai could not follow, in a language other than her own. They could not be from the other side of the sea of emptiness, could they? They had the air of sages about them, something that marked them as more than just regular travelers. Perhaps taika, then, though that did not seem right either.

“I am Lan Wangji,” the man in white said. “This is my husband Wei Wuxian. We have brought you to shelter. Your winged dog is outside at the stables.” He bowed with his hands clutched before him.

Risai nodded. “I am general Ryuu Risai. I thank you for your help.”

“You really need to watch that creature of yours, I’m sure it wants to eat me. Whoever thought of a dog with wings? How awful.”

Wangji’s face bore the hint of a smile at his husband’s outburst. “You are safe, Wei Ying.”

“Right, right,” Wuxian said. “Of course.” He looked at her and Risai could tell that a lot of his playful, even foolish, demeanor was hiding a sharp mind. “Listen, we’ve not been here long at all, but we’re happy to help if you’re willing to do something about this,” and he made a large, encompassing gesture, “situation. The people we found were starving to death and yet, somehow, they were still waiting for you and that kid to lift them up. Who are you to earn that kind of devotion?”

And so Risai told them the story of how the emperor had been chosen, how Taiki had disappeared, her desperate plea for help. She felt herself shake with the emotion of it, the anger at Asen, the fear and despair. She did not hide anything nor embellish, just shared the truth of her journey.

The two men shared another quick conversation and Wuxian grinned at her. “It is decided, we will help you save your emperor and gain back his throne.”

Risai could only stare. Who did they think they were? What powers did they wield to say these words with such confidence?

+

After a good rest, Risai explored the house and the town beyond it. There were hundreds of people here, all of whom had come from other provinces to seek shelter in Sui and been turned away at Shisen. This town had been abandoned years ago and these refugees had taken it for their own. Until the two strange sages came, it had been a dying camp of desperate people. Now it seemed like they had regained some hope.

Youma did not dare attack the town, not after Wuxian had raised their dead to fight against them. It was scandalous, even disgusting, but certainly effective.

Risai found that within the few weeks they’d been here, the two sages had breathed life back into this small corner of her home, and she was unbelievably grateful for the favor. If not for them, perhaps she would have found nothing but death on her way to Bun.

Taiki found her sitting on a large boulder outside the town limits. He looked pensive, as he always did these days. “I don’t know what they are,” he said softly. He always did everything softly these days. “But we would be mad to disregard their offer. They seem to wield incredibly powerful magic.”

Risai shuddered. “Yes, and I realize you have no way of knowing this, but Wuxian’s power is too close to what I have heard of Asen’s trickery to make me feel any comfort. What if they are working together to lure you into a trap?”

Taiki gave her words the consideration they deserved. “I think if they wanted to hurt us, they would have done so at the beach. They’re not from the same place as I or Youko, so I cannot say for sure if their story is true, but they genuinely seem to want to help.”

“If Wuxian speaks the truth, this is what they do for fun. Help people in dire straits.”

Taiki laughed, and Risai’s heart clenched with the realization that it was the first time she’d heard him laugh since his return. “Everyone needs a hobby,” he said, smiling at her.

“Then let us try trusting them, for now, but if they so much as look at you wrong, I will personally see to it that they are punished.”

+

Wuxian and Wangji’s powers were horrifying up close and probably would scare her to death if she had to stand against them, but thankfully that had not yet occurred. They were almost unbelievably kind to the starving, hopeless citizens they met on their way north and swift in their justice when they came upon the first dregs of Asen’s mercenaries.

Youma could not stand against them and neither could an army. Risai fought side by side with Wangji as Wuxian played his haunting music. Risai had never seen anything like it. Armies meant nothing as they carved their way through Asen’s defensive lines. The men that fought them turned on each other, though Risai was also well aware that very few of them actually died.

When she asked Wuxian about it, he deflected. “Ah, maybe I was just not in a killing mood.”

At night, they were curled together and often talking softly in their own language. Risai didn’t trust it, but Taiki seemed to grow more fond of them the closer they got to Bun. With these men on their side, rescuing Gyokuyo no longer seemed impossible and that softened his stance considerably. Risai remained vigilant.

During times of rest, Wuxian often experimented with paper talismans, creating magic right before her eyes and occasionally causing small explosions. He was certainly a crafty man, defined by a sense of curiosity that made Risai wonder at his background. He was clearly not a swordsman like Wangj, but Wangj, too, played a magical instrument. When they played together to put the dead to rest, Risai often found herself tearing up.

When they arrived in Bun, finding Gyokuyo was a lot easier than she would have imagined. Several spirits could be persuaded to speak of his whereabouts and the dungeon Asen’s people kept him in was not hard to find. He was being held right in the provincial capital, chained up like some kind of dangerous animal. Saving him was easier still.

“We’re doing what?” Risai asked as Wuxian finished laying out his plan.

“We walk in,” Wuxian said, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth. He always smiled and Risai was growing tired of it.

“Do you always have to look like this?” She threw at him. “Can you never be serious?”

Wuxian shook his head, playing up his childish side. Wangji, ever the enabler, only tried to reassure her that this would be just fine. They had done this before. Things would be absolutely fine. Taiki, acting mostly on hero worship, agreed with their plan.

Risai prepared herself for the worst, but it had not occurred to her how much resentful energy could be found in a dungeon, how many souls had to die here under the worst circumstances. Wei Wuxian played his flute and the spirits of the dead rose to revenge themselves on those who did them wrong. It was at once the most horrifying and the most effective raid she had ever been a part of.

Gyokuyo was alive, but when they found him he barely looked it. Chained to the center of the room, suspended in heavy, magical chains, haggard and unkempt, he barely acknowledged their presence. Perhaps he had dreamed of this moment of rescue before, perhaps he had given up hope. It’d been years. Risai felt shame when she supported this man on the way out, shame that she could not have been faster.

Years.

+

Gyokuyo opened his eyes to sunlight for the first time in six years and the sight hurt so much that it made him weep. Or perhaps he had already been weeping. Freedom had not felt like a possibility for so long that he had given up hope. He had tried to escape, at first, because his captors had talked and talked about the terrible things they were doing to his country, but for all that they were simple villains, they overestimated his abilities and kept him locked into his chains the entire time. There had been no relief, no chance.

Then he slowly felt himself go mad. Days melted into weeks, months, years. He could no longer tell the difference between his dreams and reality.

But this, he knew, this was real.

As many times as he had dreamed of his rescue, as many times as he had imagined someone coming to his aid, it was never Risai with only one arm, Taiki all grown up and two men he had never seen before. His rag tag band of saviors was unimaginable and unlikely to the point where even his feverish mind would have balked at the audacity.

Taiki, who had waited outside, immediately took over shouldering his burden as they emerged into sunlight and the others let him. Gyokuyo was covered in old and new blood and flinched as his skin touched Taiki’s, but the kirin didn’t seem to care.

“You cannot be near me like this,” Gyokuyo said, the first words he had spoken in months, maybe longer.

Taiki simply glared at him. “I cannot be apart from you for another moment,” he said, and there was no argument against that. Not a single one.

+

They made their base in Tetsui, as was only proper. It had all started here and from here Asen’s end would sweep through their nation like a cleansing wind. The two foreign sages decided to stay a little longer, help them on their way - Gyokuyo had no idea why they were so confident that they could leave again but he had seen their power and trusted that they would.

Taiki was changed. This hurt the most, not the way this young man had taken the place of an unearthly child, but the struggle he had endured, the pain he had to survive. Gyokuyo would never forgive himself for his part in that. He had thought that his plans were exactly what his nation needed and never gave a moment’s notice to the possibility that they simply might not work.

Risai cornered him, days after his rescue, and Gyokuyo bowed before her. No emperor ever needed to bow before anyone, but he felt it was her due. What she had given up, it was unimaginable.

“Your highness,” she said, averting her eyes. “I do not know what use I’ll be going forward, but I would like to still be a part of the assault. I know I am no longer-”

He interrupted her with a hand on her arm. “Risai, you are invaluable to this effort.”

“I am useless,” she said, and her voice was calm, but he could hear the rage and sorrow underneath. “I can barely hold a sword.”

Gyokuyo stared at her. She truly believed this. He shook his head. “Risai, you are my general and you are Tai’s hope. Not Taiki, not me. You are the lifeblood of my people and their voice in the dark. Without you, we would not be here at all.”

Risai’s eyes teared up and Gyokuyo allowed himself a smile. “As long as you stand,” he said, bowing his head again, just enough to make the point. “Tai stands with you. I would not have you anywhere but at my and Taiki’s side.”

And so it was settled. Whatever the morning would bring, whatever they would face in the war with Asen, they would face it together.


End file.
